"Ditkomania" original art by Dave Sim recently sold at auction over $1K [Ebay] [thanks Pimp!]

5 Memorable Moments in Comic Book Censorship [Mental Floss]
Includes infamous Ditko story from Strange Tales #83 (April 01961), where the entire point of the story, that it was really the Devil and not just a devil mask at the socialite costume party, is undone by making it just a mask [Ditko Looked Up].

Baltimore Comic-Con update re: Bendis' continuing destruction of Doctor Strange into an incompetent unheroic self-pitier without any hope that there's any heroic payoff at the end of this long dark tunnel that is the Marvel Universe right now [Comic Book Resources] [Newsarama]

A fan asked about the new status quo for Doctor Strange. Bendis answered that in Stephen's mind, he's failed at being Sorcerer Supreme, leading to his surrendering the role. "So the question is - if he's not Sorcerer Supreme, who is?" (from CBR)

That will all be answered in New Avengers post-Secret Invasion. (from Newsarama)

Thanks to all the readers who have sent this to Neilalien- and not one of them is happy with this news, nor should they be.

IGN Comics: One of my readers wrote in to me and wanted to know what's going on with Dr. Strange.

Bendis: Well, I'll tell you, and this is a promise and I have locked it in to my outlines for Marvel. There were some plans for Strange. I was setting him up for something. But it didn't come about, so Dr. Strange will be appearing in New Avengers early next year with a big storyline there. It's basically if Dr. Strange is no longer Sorcerer Supreme... then who is?

A lame Harry Potter joke follows. Here we have Why It's Tough Being A Doctor Strange Fan, Exhibit #5,067 (apparently some "plans for Strange" fell through?) and #5,068 (to be replaced by more of Bendis' modus operandi, tear the characters down (not simply giving them challenges, but breaking the characters fundamentally) and without doing anything to build them back up or any kind of heroic payoff (apparently if Bendis' line wasn't merely the setup to a lame joke, then now Doc isn't "Sorcerer Supreme" anymore?)).

GR: Any news on your involvement with a film version of Dr. Strange with director Guillermo del Toro?

NG: Only a rumor, unfortunately. Guillermo would love to do it. The last time we spoke to Marvel, they would love to do it. I would love to do it with them. But Guillermo is in New Zealand working on The Hobbit, which is probably two movies, not one. So, I would not write it off, and I think it is quite possible that in three years time, Guillermo will phone me up [Gaiman does a convincing del Toro impression]: "Neil, are you still interested in doing Dr. Strange with me?" and I will say, "Guillermo, I will do anything with you," and we'll go off and do it together. But it's certainly not happening right now.

What is the sound of two demons projectile vomiting? Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #8 has the answer [HeroMachine]

Retailer Brian Hibbs on "street dates" [Comic Book Resources]
Can the comics industry handle it if retailers got their books at least 18 hours before they're expected to sell them? Can retailers handle it without trying to sell the week's comics a day early?

"I've never, ever had researchers have their picture taken with works of art, until now," said Sara W. Duke, a curator of popular and applied graphic art at the library. "It's almost like a worship of the object that goes on."

Two people with no plans to visit, however, are the webslinger's creative team: writer/editor Stan Lee and artist Ditko.

"I'm just too busy," said Lee, 85, in an interview from his California offices. "Plus, I've already seen them. I'm not someone who lives in the past too much."

Ditko, 80, was more abrupt. When reached at his Manhattan studio, he would only say: "I couldn't care less."

Entire print run of All-Star Batman and Robin #10 recalled: Frank Miller wanted all the profanity to actually be lettered in, and then black-boxed out (no *%$#@ for him, no sir!), but a production error rendered black boxes that could be seen through [The Beat]

How to read a movie [Roger Ebert]
Some of this gold has got to apply to comics:

In simplistic terms: Right is more positive, left more negative. Movement to the right seems more favorable; to the left, less so. The future seems to live on the right, the past on the left. The top is dominant over the bottom. The foreground is stronger than the background. Symmetrical compositions seem at rest. Diagonals in a composition seem to "move" in the direction of the sharpest angle they form, even though of course they may not move at all. Therefore, a composition could lead us into a background that becomes dominant over a foreground. Tilt shots of course put everything on a diagonal, implying the world is out of balance. I have the impression that more tilts are down to the right than to the left, perhaps suggesting the characters are sliding perilously into their futures. Left tilts to me suggest helplessness, sadness, resignation. Few tilts feel positive. Movement is dominant over things that are still. A POV above a character's eyeline reduces him; below the eyeline, enhances him. Extreme high angle shots make characters into pawns; low angles make them into gods. Brighter areas tend to be dominant over darker areas, but far from always: Within the context, you can seek the "dominant contrast," which is the area we are drawn toward. Sometimes it will be darker, further back, lower, and so on. It can be as effective to go against intrinsic weightings as to follow them.

The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe is a consistently good seller [Progressive Ruin]

Joe Casey mined the Defenders' meta problems to eventual payoff in Last Defenders [The Hurting]
Text includes this great line: "Nighthawk wants there to be a Defenders for the same reason that David Lovering will never say no to a Pixies reunion."

Doctor Strange is a fictional character who appears in, and is wholly owned by, Marvel Comics.
This site is not official nor affiliated with Marvel Comics.
This site is for academic and personal use.
Images of Doctor Strange and other characters are owned by their respective owners, and are used via fair use out of love without permission.
This site has no intention of diluting, risking or exploiting anyone's ownership or the money-making ability of their own properties, trademarks, and copyrights.
It is this site's sincere hope that the owners, especially Marvel Comics, are rational people who "get" the internet and fandom,
and can perceive this site as a free generator of positive promotion and interest, even when this site might be critical of how they are using their properties, or place their properties in humorous, satiric, parodic or ironic situations.